Originally aimed at the influx of Irish immigrants to the new country, the New Zealand Tablet was founded by the first Bishop of Dunedin, Patrick Moran.
Moran was noted as a strong-minded and literate speaker and the paper gave him the opportunity to voice his views on religion, the church, and politics - especially the latter.
Moran was noted for his opposition to the secularisation of education (a policy of the New Zealand government), and strongly vocal on the issue of Irish nationalism, and used the paper as a pulpit from which to write on both subjects.
James Kelly, editor from 1917 to 1931, adopted a line closer to Moran's — so much so that Cleary founded an opposition Catholic journal, The Month, in 1918.
The Tablet remained an important means of communication within the New Zealand Catholic community, but after Kelly's time maintained a less outspoken approach.